As a small business owner, you should be continuously looking to expand and grow your customer base and businesses. Your main focus should be on generating abundance and prosperity through a positive mindset, and always looking for ways to grow.
Needless to say, a business that does not expand and grow becomes stagnant and eventually dies.
Growing your business is not always clear cut or easy. All good things take time. That being said, here are some tips to help you on your way to generating leads which you can turn into clients or customers, depending on your business. Clients you provide a service to. Customers you provide tangible goods to. At the end of the day, the more the merrier.
Who is Your Target Audience?
You need to define this before you do anything else!
- Male, female, or both.
- Where are they from? Here is where geo-targeting comes in handy. Are they local? Are they in a particular region of the country? Are they from all points across the country?
- What are their interests and why would they include your product or service as part of their interests?
- Are they ready, willing and able buyers? What are their finances like? What can they afford?
- What is their lifestyle?
- Personality may also come in to play as well as stress factors.
How Will You Market to Your Target Audience?
What is your game plan to get the eyeballs? A website? A blog? Social media? Advertising – either traditional or online? Videos? What is your budget for this?
Creating the Sales Funnel
How will you collect potential leads and customers contact information? Time proven ways to do this are actually quite simple. Landing pages and email campaigns. However, poor content that does not “grab” interest and eyeballs will lead to poor results. The occasional give away – coupons, downloadable information, etc. encourages potential leads and customers to be willing participants. Note I said “occasional” because otherwise you simply become a free give away source with little return on investment.
Excellent content on your landing pages as well as in your newsletters is a must. Content is king.
Cultivate the Relationships
Another very important step is to cultivate and build on your relationships with leads and contacts. Establish trust; establish your business as the knowledgeable source people can turn to; and if selling products, always sell quality products. If selling services, always give 110% excellent customer service. Reputation management is key. Down the road, this step leads to repeat business, referrals and 5 star reviews. Very very important.
Social Media
Continue the relationship building with social media. Whether your preference is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn or another social media venue, use your chosen venue(s) to attract an audience, retain that audience, and build trust for your brand. The more your followers can relate to you and your content, the more likely you will be able to add them into your sales funnel, over time.